Marlene Hitt
Many people remember the old fashioned drug store. Stories about the
drug store soda fountains began to flow at the Bolton Hall Ice Cream
Social this August. The Little Landers Historical Society hosts of the
event, boasted about the use of malt mixer and a whipped cream maker from
the soda fountain of Sunland.
There were several drug stores with soda fountains in Sunland-Tujunga
springing up soon after people moved in and got settled. Nearly everyone
likes their ice cream treats. Many of the citizens roaming around town
have put together those wonderful soda fountain recipes in the days when
they were teenage "soda jerks."
In the book "American Druggist Formula Compendium," there is a whole
chapter about fountain profits and purchasing, there are many about the
personal appearance of the pharmacist's employees. Some do's and don't's
in the chapter are: "See that your shoes are shined, guard against body
odors, don't permit your fingers to come in contact with the rim of a
glass or cup, and don't pit your fingers in your ears or nostrils. Don't
pick up a glass with wet hands, don't say 'lady,' say 'madam,' don't
leave a customer dissatisfied..."
After several pages of suggestions, the subject turns to food. There
is a section of recipes for 15-cent sandwiches, more than 50 varieties,
such as salmon and egg, salmon and pickle, green pepper and tomato, and
even ham and peanut butter. The best selling sandwich is listed as ham.
A good dessert is "Prune a la Mode," which is made of carefully
arranged cooked prunes topped with vanilla or coffee ice cream and prune
juice. A delicious sundae is made with sieved preserved figs served over
ice cream.
To make an orange phosphate: 1 ounce orange syrup, 1 ounce pineapple
syrup, dash of acid phosphate solution, crushed ice and soda water. "Top
with mint leaf and powdered sugar. or try floating half and ounce of
grape juice at the top of the finished drink."
To make a ginger ale, the druggist mixed tincture of ginger, tincture
of capsicum, solution of citric acid, oil of lemon, sugar and water. Then
"mix in the usual manner and charge to about 150 pounds pressure." For
the fizz. Small tanks of carbon dioxide mixed with water provided either
a strong spray of carbonated water, or poured forth regular soda water.
Maybe such delicious concoctions consumed at the pharmacy would have
healing properties. Think how much better one would feel after drinking a
thick chocolate malt with three scoops of real ice cream, rich and creamy
with whole milk.
The pharmacist of today has no time to mix fountain specials, or even
to compound medicines. This is a different world. For the 1934 druggist,
this was the fountain recipe for the future, as written in the formulary:
"Futurist Soda... The principal feature of this preparation, called Soda
Deluxe, is the fact that the ice cream is not served in the drink but on
a separate plate, thus giving the customer a full glass of soda with
which to quench his thirst, and adding the unmelted, unbattered ball of
ice cream as the additional sweet touch in a form which permits it to be
handled more readily with the spoon. It may be the novelty of the idea
that is making it popular, but there is reason to assume that the extra
value suggested by the double service is helpful."
We may introduce this futuristic notion at next year's ice cream
social at Bolton Hall Museum. We will save these recipes.
